U.S. Breast Milk Contaminated by 25 Kinds of Flame Retardant Chemicals, Research Says

The toxic chemicals were found in every sample of women's breast milk that was tested, according to a new study

New research shows that a class of toxic flame retardants has been “widely” found in breast milk in the United States.

Breast milk from fifty women around the United States was analyzed for the new study. Every single sample contained some level of brominated flame retardants (BFRs), with a total of 25 different types of BFRs identified in the milk, according to a report in the The Guardian. 

BFRs are commonly found in plastics, televisions, and electronics, and “are currently the largest marketed flame retardant group due to their high performance efficiency and low cost,” according to the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).

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BFRs surged in popularity after polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs), which were previously used as flame retardants, were banned or scrutinized due to potential health risks.

According to The Guardian, “the two chemicals are structurally similar and used for the same purpose,” but “bromophenols are unregulated because so little is known about their toxicity.”

But they have been shown to negatively impact humans, according to the EPA: “Recent epidemiological studies clearly indicated that BFRs affect human health. The human health effects include cryptorchidism, alterations in thyroid hormone homeostasis, reproductive effects, and reduced development of children at school age that include psychomotor development index and IQ performance.”

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Humans are exposed when they breathe in dust contaminated with the chemicals or ingest them, according to the EPA, which also reports that “indoor contamination is proposed to be a significant source of human exposure." Young children — who are prone to putting their hands in their mouths and their mouths on non-food items — are most at risk.

In addition, the study found that one class of BFRs “has also been detected in plastic toys with recycled plastic content and was the compound with the greatest leaching into artificial saliva.”

“It’s maddening to find current-use brominated flame retardants in breast milk, 20 years after contamination with PBDEs rang alarm bells,” Erika Schreder, the study’s co-author, wrote in a post on Toxic-Free Future.

She pointed out that Best Buy replaced the harmful chemicals used in its brand of television sets with “a substitute assessed as safer.”

“Best Buy has shown it’s possible — now it and other electronics retailers should take the next step and ensure all the electronics they sell contain only safer chemicals,” Schreder writes.

The study points out that Apple and HP have also restricted the chemicals.

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And while flame retardant chemicals might be eliminated from one line of products, they can still show up in related merchandise. One flame retardant chemical, called chlorinated tris, was banned from use in children’s pajamas in 1977 after it was found to potentially alter DNA. However, Dr. Heather Stapleton, a chemist at Duke University, found it in her son's play tunnel.

“That really horrified me,” she told The New York Times. “He put his mouth all over that mesh.”

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